Abhorsen
by Alyss Mainwaring
Summary: Will has been declared insane, Alyss is gone, Pauline is looking after their children. Halt's on a mission with Horace to prove that Will actually is sane and Gil has decided to go visit Will. How is this all going to right itself eventually like everything else has? That's the problem, no one knows... Aly
1. Chapter 1

**_Abhorsen_**

_- 'You have to believe me!' (Will) cried in exasperation._

'How can we? What you're saying is ridiculous,' Halt replied.

'But still!' Will said.

'I think you are just upset over what happened to her,' Crowley came in, an expression of sorrow and comfort residing on his face.

'I know what I saw,' Will tried to argue but he could see that his friends were unrelenting.

'Will,' Halt started, but Will had, had enough of this argument. He stood up and left the room.

Crowley put his head in his hands. He knew what was required of him but he didn't want to do it. He looked over to see how Halt was coping with the recent events

Halt looked up and met his eye. 'Please don't,' he said, begged.

'I have to Halt,' Crowley said. 'There is no choice in this.

_'_I have to test if he has gone insane.'

**I am going to be posting a couple more like this and I want you guys to pick one for me to continue... Here is one for you!**

**I MIGHT continue the others... that depends...**

**Alyss Mainwaring**


	2. Chapter 2

Halt sighed and ran his finger through his hair once more. Crowley had denied giving him access to inside the room where Will was with the excuse that he didn't want anything to influence what Will would say.

Halt had yelled and done everything he could to get Crowley to let him in but nothing had worked. Giving up his worrying with a sigh, Halt slid down the wall closest to him._What if he is considered insane? Where will his children go? And soon after what happened to their mother as well! Where are they going_ to keep him? Normally a close family member does it but who is there with the time and patience? Halt continued to ask himself these and similar questions as the day wore on. Suddenly he growled and left the room. Crowley was going to pay. He was going to prove that Will wasn't insane and then rub it in Crowley's face...

Hard.

_**12345678910**_

Crowley didn't even look up when Halt stormed into his office.

'No you can't go and double check that Will hasn't gone insane, someone else is already doing it,' he said, still trying to decode what he was looking at.

'Who did you send?' Halt demanded from him.

'Marvin,' Crowley said.

'Him! He's bloody insane already!' Halt yelled.

'There hasn't been any proof though...' Crowley said. 'Go it!' he then yelled and jumped up out of his chair and then sat back down again.

'You don't care about this at all do you? You just lost one of your best Rangers, THE best shooter of us all and you are sitting here not caring in the slightest!' Halt yelled and slammed his oak leaf down onto Crowley's table.

'I respect your judgment but this is the second time I have had to do this... See you when I get back,' Halt said and walked out, already planning how he was going to break it to Lady Pauline that he was leaving her alone with Will's children whilst he went off to search for some mysterious thing that most likely didn't exist.

Maybe he should ask Horace if he wanted to come along...

* * *

**Marvin is in honour of Towel day today...**

**I need a beta for this... I want to go through the site though... not email. As I am having slight difficulty using the apple I have to do this on fanfiction**

**The odd thing in the middle is a page break :) My normal one didn't save.**

**Alyss Maiwaring**


	3. Chapter 3

Halt and Horace (who had agreed to come along without a second thought) raced quietly through the corridors of the Castle Araluen. Halt slowed slightly seeing King Duncan ahead, but Horace didn't.  
'What's happening?' he asked.

Horace paused for a moment and managed to get out, 'Have to go and see something,' he said and then ran passed. Halt took a second to realise what had just happened and then shrugged.

'See you later!' he called out to his friend. King Duncan just let him past and didn't think anything else of it.

'Stop Halt!' Crowley called out and Duncan reached to grab the end of Halt's cloak. His fingers just slipped through though and Crowley swore out loud.

'And that's why I stay with rangers,' Duncan said.

'Why?' Crowley asked, still thinking about how he was going to trap Halt.

'Because everyone else refuses to us anything but the proper etiquette around me and yet you all are ok with swearing near me,' he said happily.

'Sure,' Crowley replied distracted. '' Can I put some guards at the gates to stop them?'

'Go for it!' Duncan said and walked away still in a happy mood.

Halt raced down to Abelard and quickly saddled him before he saddled Kicker. Horace was quickly getting what he needed for such a tip as it looked like this was going to be, Halt naturally had already packed because he had known in some small pat of his mind that it would come to this.

Two minutes before he had expected him to come, Horace came running around the door to the stable carrying two bags. He expertly flung them onto Kicker and then got on. He looked to Halt to find him already on Abelard.

'Someone, I'm assuming Crowley has sent people to block off the front gate,' he said, slightly out of breath.

'We should go then,' Halt said and the two of them started to gallop to the gate.

_**12345678910**_

Just as two of them reached the gate, it slammed closed. Horace swore but the gate closing didn't ruin Halt's plans in the slightest.

Halt turned Abelard around and headed him off to the stables again.

'We're going to give up like that?' Horace asked.

'Whoever said I was giving up?' Halt smirked back.


	4. Chapter 4

Halt quickly went back to the stables, but instead of where Horace though he was going to go, he went around to the back.

'What are we going here?' Horace asked.

'What do you think?' Halt replied and didn't say anymore, no matter how much Horace kept on pestering him, he didn't say anything.

Suddenly, Halt pushed something and the whole of the back the the stable room swung open and he led his horse into the tunnel. Horace hesitated before going in after Halt.

'There are _only_ huge man eating spiders down here and anyway, I think you could take care of anything bigger,' Halt explained.

'Good to see the amount of confidence you have with me,' Horace said and went into the tunnel as well.

Halt just smiled grimly.

_**123456789**_

Crowley swore as he walked down the corridor. The idiot Marvin had just come in and had tested positive for being insane, without even mentioning anything that Will did.

(And they were now down three Rangers and the next lot didn't come through for three years.)

He stopped and looked at the wall next to him. For a little while, Crowley contemplated punching it, but then he decided against it. Instead he banged his head against it.

I wont send anyone else, Crowley thought. I can't risk losing any more Rangers right now.

As it was he would already have to reorganise where some of them were stationed.

It was time for an emergency meeting.

_**123456789**_

Pauline looked away from her group of new apprentices. Most of them would drop out in the next few weeks and some of them would be told to drop out. But that wasn't what was bothering her.

Somewhere inside of her, the six sense that she seemed to posses was yelling at her that Halt had just done something extremely stupid. And there was no way of know what it was until everything had all blown over.

Or she got a letter from Will or Crowley.


	5. Chapter 5

'When are we stopping to eat?' Horace asked for what must have been the twenty millionth time that hour.

Halt had even given up on trying to answer him, instead he just remained silent.

'Halt,' Horace said looking a head towards the crossroads that was coming up. Halt continued ignoring him.

'Halt!' Horace tried again. Halt still didn't respond.

'There is someone lying in the middle of the road chopped in half,' Horace added. After hearing this, Halt said up in his saddle and swore.

Once he saw that Horace was right, he swore again, just for good measure.

_**123456789**_

Crowley nodded to the Rangers who were already set up as he rode into the gathering ground. Their faces were serious and his was no different.

Eventually he made it to his position and ran straight into Gilan who was standing there in his way.

'You'll hear once everyone else does,' Crowley grunted at him. Gil didn't move.

'Where's Will and Halt?' he asked.

'Not here,' Crowley replied.

'_Obviously_,' Gilan said. 'Where are they?'

'Gone,' Crowley said and shoved the younger Ranger out of his way and started to set up camp.

Gilan frowned. Will and Halt were both meant to be at castle Araluen talking to Crowley, why hadn't they came with him. Unless they knew already what the meeting was for? But the commander's replies to his questions had gotten shorter and shorter.

What was happening?

**_123456789_**

The new apprentices were failing. All of them.

And not just failing. They were majorly failing in the biggest way that an apprentice could fail.

Lady Pauline gave an unladylike groan and pushed the marks from the apprentices latest grade away from her.

_Where's Halt when I need him,_ she thought. _If I asked him what I could do about this he would tell me that to make them all pay attention more I could throw them into the local lake._

_As wrong as that is, that is actually an appealing thought right now,_ she continued.


	6. Chapter 6

As they came closer to the body, Halt and Horace could see that the person, they couldn't tell if it was a girl or a boy, had been burnt recently and was cut in half at the waist. One side was lying in the middle of one way at the crossroads and the other, on the other side.

Halt pulled a face as he was examining it. 'I hate it when I find things like this,' he said and pulled away from it.

'At least it doesn't smell yet,' Horace added.

'True,' Halt said. He started looking around. It wouldn't do for a passer by to spot them with the body, just as it wouldn't do for them to leave the body where it was and then some report it to who ever was in charge around here.

'Turns you off your food doesn't it,' Horace said. Halt raised one eyebrow and then started dragging the remains off the road.

'Get the other half and bring it here,' he ordered Horace who pulled a face.

'As it turns out, it does smell when you are up close to it,' Horace complained.

'Yep,' added Halt. 'Hurry up. Before someone comes!'

_**123456789**_

That night around the camp fire, the Rangers were sitting there drinking coffee and talking. They were all quite happy and cheerful.

Until Crowley stood up. **(Just saying, who isn't happy until Crowley turns up?)**

Slowly everyone realised that he was waiting and stopped talking, giving him, their total attention.

'Recently,' he started. 'We lost two Rangers to insanity. Determined, another has gone to prove that at least one of them isn't insane.'

Confused faces turned to other confused faces. Quickly, all of the rangers did a head count and then worked out who was missing.

'Marvin was crazy from the start!' someone yelled. Quite a few people agreed.

'But Will?' Crowley found himself responding.

The whole group froze.

'I want no one else walking that path. This is too dangerous for any lone ranger to attempt to master alone. Whilst we are here I will be judging who is most suited for the journey and then trying to re-shuffle the rest of you so that those with more experience have at most, two fiefs to look over.

He nodded and left to go and think things over in his tent.

_**123456789**_

Lady Pauline, there is a messenger waiting for you down at the stables,' one of her more accomplished students said.

Pauline nodded. 'Thank you,' she told the woman and stood up to go and greet this mysterious messenger.

When she got down to the stables, she found the messenger brushing his horse down. As soon as he saw her approaching, he bowed and handed her a note.

She looked down at it and swore. She knew nothing about how to look after little children. A couple of hours yes, but weeks?


	7. Chapter 7

'I think someone will notice,' Horace told Halt, who just gave him a death glare.

'It's the best we had time to do,' Halt replied. 'The local Ranger is not that far away from here, we can go and alert him and then continue on our journey.'

Horace nodded and then called kicker over to him. The horse nudged his shoulder and then started walking off again. Getting frustrated, Horace walked over to Kicker and then looked around. Kicker had led him to a high point where there was aclearing in the trees, and then nudged his head with his own to look out over to the town.

Horace swore.

No one in the town was going to miss this person. It looked as though this person was the last person in the two.

**_! #$%^&*() ! #$%^&*() ! #$%^&*()_**

All of the Rangers around the fire started muttering to the one next to them, trying to make sense of all of the information they had gotten.

Gil however didn't talk to anyone, just sat there in his own shock. Could it be? Was it true? What was the actual truth from Will?

Where was Will?

Deciding that his last question was the one that he wanted answered the most, he stormed over to the commander tent and then pushed it open.

Gilan was determined to get the answers he wanted.

_**! #$%&*() ! #$%^&*() ! $%^&*()**_

'Horsey!' the oldest of Will's children yelled out upon seeing Tug. In response the "horsey" snorted at the three children.

And then at Pauline.

'I know, but they were missing their father and I thought them playing with you would make it slightly better,' Pauline replied.

_Where is Will?_ Tug seemed to say.

_So they can talk,_ Pauline thought before replying. 'I don't know Tug.'

'Grandma?' little (Will's daughter) asked.

'Yes,' Pauline replied.

'Where's Daddy?' she asked innocently.

'Out,' Pauline said simply.

* * *

**I need a name for Will''s children as well as ages. I want them all to be rather young and one girl and one boy. Once I receive suggestions I will start up a poll on my profile.**

**Also, to all those sport fencers out there, I need a common household objet to use as a target. I am starting to prepare for nationals for the first time which are approaching fast and my orange tree is not liking me. :)**  
**(Yeah... I broke a branch and stabbed an orange straight through)**

**And someone review please so that I know pretending to practice fencing and sneaking outside at odd times of the day to write fan fiction is all worth it.**

**Mum has banned me for these whole 3 weeks :)**

_**Aly**_


	8. Chapter 8

Halt and Horace **(LOL double H)** jumped on their horses and rode down to the blackened mass.

They wandered around the once town with wide eyes. Nothing that could have been used for any importance had been set on fire, including the cattle.

All of a sudden, Kicker lost control and started rearing. Horace tried to stay on his once placid horse, but his horse would not calm down.

Letting out a word that Horace had only ever heard Will use once, he fell off Kicker and hit the ground with a dull_ thud_.

'That sounded like it hurt,' Halt muttered to Horace. The younger man just groaned. 'The one hundred and one tons of armor helped that,' Horace replied and then sat up. Halt just shook his head in frustration and got off Abelard.

He hauled Horace off the ground so fast that the knight stumbled forward a bit before regaining his balance.

'Thanks, Halt,' he said sarcastically.

'Just don't do it again,' Halt replied as though he had never heard the sarcasm lacing his voice. The two men looked over to where Kicker and Abelard were. Kicker was still dancing around, obviously distressed and Abelard was trying to calm him down.

'What the hell is wrong with him?' Halt asked Horace who just shrugged in return. They stood there watching for a moment before he replied.

'I have no clue, he has never acted this way before,' he said. Both of them continued to watch as Abelard obviously gave up with trying to calm the other horse down. The horse walked over to them. He nudged Halt's shoulder and upon getting no response, bit it.

'What was that for?' Halt asked his horse. Abelard snorted, sending huge amounts of horse spit into Halt's hair.

'Thanks,' Horace said, wiping the small amount that hit him out of his eye. Horace could have sworn blind that the horse had just grinned.

Suddenly, just as fast as it had started, Kicker stopped dancing around and he walked over to Horace.

Halt frowned and looked over Kicker, making sure that there were no pieces of leaf or branch under the saddle causing him to go crazy. Once he had found nothing there, Halt shook his head and moved away.

'Your guess is as good as mine,' he told Horace and then mounted Abelard. 'But I think this is our cue to go and try to find the ranger of this place. '

**! #$%^&*() ! #$%^&*() ! #$%^&*()**

'Whatever questions you have I am not answering them,' Crowley said as Gil thudded into the tent.

'Why not?' Gil asked.

'Because I don't particularly want to,' Crowley replied.

'But you have already answered one of my questions, why not answer any more?' Gil snapped back. Crowley froze. He knew that he had been put into a tight spot and he frowned.

'Hit me with them,' he said. 'One at a time though,' aware that Gil was going to try and fire them off at sixty-six miles per hour. Or should I say a couple of kilometers, considering this is an Australian series and all...

'Where is he?' Gil asked.

'Where is who?' Crowley replied, trying to avoid as many questions as possible.

'You know,' growled Gil in return.

'He has rooms in castle Araluen where food and everything else he might need is brought to him.'

'What did Will say to be classed as insane?'

'He insisted that magic is real and that there is a practicer about to take over Araluen.'

'Did you even send anyone to see if he was right?'

'I sent Marvin.'

'He's crazy already!' Gil said and stormed out of the tent. He needed time to calm down again before he had to deal with everyone again.

He walked over to the target range, all the apprentices that were there ran off upon seeing the anger present in his whole body and he started throwing his knives at the targets. Gilan never hit anything other than the bulls-eye. After a little time doing this (actually two hours) he made the decision to seek Crowley out again.

The commandant of the Rangers was just where he had been left, in his tent working on some paperwork.

'I want to go and see him,' Gil told Crowley.

'I can't let you,' he replied and looked up to face Gil.

'Just give me one month off, let me go see him. I promise not to go crazy as well,' Gil pleaded and Crowley relented.

'One month starting from tomorrow,' Crowley said and Gilan knew that he had just been dismissed.

Once he was outside, he was ambushed by almost all of the other Rangers.

'What's the news about Will?' the closest Ranger asked.

'He is in Castle Araluen and the other person who was labeled as insane was Marvin,' Gil said.

'He was already bloody insane,' Ranger 34, George, commented darkly.

'Now tell us something that we don't already know,' replied his twin Ranger 35, René. They were the only twins that the corps had ever had and they often went on missions together, working well.

'I'm going to see how crazy he really is, or if he is just knocked slightly off kilter,' Gilan told the group around him. They all nodded.

'Try and bring him back sane, although with what happened to his wife it would make sense if it never happened,' someone, Gil didn't catch who, said.

'But for now, let's eat!' George said and the whole group sat down to eat some slop.

**! #$%^&*() ! #$%^&*() ! #$%^&*()**

Pauline sighed and removed the child hanging off her arm. Will's son started cry and she was forced to pick him up again.

Suddenly she was hit with a brilliant idea to keep them entertained.

'How old are you?' she asked the little boy who had stopped crying as soon as she had picked him up.

'Thwee,' he said in the way that children have.

'I think that means that you are big enough to start learning how to count,' she told him.

'Like a big boy?' he replied.

'Exactly like a big boy,' she grinned.

**Right! Just over a thousand words! A long chapter for you all!**

**And about a week after the last update.**

**I am planning to update this once a week, but I can't do that without all of your continued support. I only got one review last chapter and I know for a fact that 10 people have seen it. I'm not going to post up the next chapter until I have at least 3 reviews. I know that isn't much people! And if you could give me advice on how to write I would be delighted. I am an aspiring author like the rest of you (unless you are already an author, if you are then stop reading this and continue with your own stories).**

**Also with the fencing question from last chapter, I am still looking for answers to that and more names for the little kiddies! Remember, the two names I have for the little girl are as a poll on my profile!**

**Bye!**

**Alyss**


	9. Chapter 9

The two men rode down into the local forrest and past many trees that made Horace wonder how Halt could remember the way to the small cabin.

Suddenly, Halt got off Abelard and made a sign to Horace that he should do the same. Silently, the younger man complied.

You stay, I'll continue, Halt signed. For a second Horace disagreed but then he saw the logic in the idea. halt would be able to get a lot closer and if this ranger was a rouge, then they needed as much information as they could get.

A couple of seconds later Halt disappeared into the trees and Horace was left with two horses, and like always, a hungry stomach.

Two hours later he looked up as he heard footsteps. Hs face grew pale as he saw who it was...

Certainly not Halt.

_**I AM A HUGE PAGE BREAK**_

Gilan sighed as he started packing up his tent. It was a whole week earlier than when he normally would have been doing so.

For some odd reason he had known that he wouldn't see the whole gathering. He had also somehow known that it was all going to go down hill.

And he could safely say that he had been right.

I wonder if Halt needs any help, Gil thought as he look around to make sure that he hadn't left anything behind.

'Gil!' a voice called him over to the group of younger rangers, the ones that he and Will would spend the most time talking to at each gathering.

'Yeah?' he asked. And scratched Blaze on the nose. In response the horse leaning into his touch.

'From all of us,' one of the group said and held out a brown packet.

'What's in it?' Gil asked.

'Just something to let him know that if need be, we would stand by him.' Gil nodded and walked over to place it in his saddle bags.

'Tell him we said hi!' someone called out.

'I plan to,' replied Gil. Then he turned to Blaze. 'As soon as we are out of here, we'll do the Rangers forced march.'

Blaze snorted a reply. _And If I don't want to?_

'You can talk to Tug and have as many oats as you want so long as we get there,' Gil promised Blaze. His horse seemed to contemplate the offer for a little while before agreeing to it.

* * *

**I need reviews guys... You need to let me know that you are reading it.**

**This I thought was my most popular story but I just made a new one and I already have 2 reivews and I don't think that it is even 1 hour old...**

**The more reviews I get, the quicker I am inspired to update, thats the way that it works. And I have the next couple of chapters actually written out, ready to be typed.**

**Everyone who reivews gets a bounus chapter with Will in it :)**

**Alyss Mainwaring**


	10. Chapter 10

'Who is hiding in the tree?' Halt heard a shrill voice start to question Horace. 'Is it this Halt you were calling out to earlier? Or were you telling them to Halt?'

Horace said nothing and answered her with death glares.

'Well then, I guess that I will just have to find your friend and ask him then wont I?' the woman said and turned around to where Halt was hiding.

'I certainly can't see you,' the woman said. 'I have never seen that spell before. Why don't we start off with telling each other's name? Mine is Alanna.'

Halt said nothing and trusted the cloak.

After watching the site he was standing for ten minutes the woman seemed to give up.

'You were just pulling on my leg, weren't you?!' she yelled at Horace. 'I was going to just simply kill you here, but now, for that, I am going to make you my personal slave. Just in time as well. My last one died yesterday.' She grinned and Horace found himself wincing.

Brilliant, he thought.

His captor turned her back away from him and started going through her bags, trying to find something, which Horace guess would put him in her service. As she did this though Horace tried to tell Halt to leave without him and, hopefully, come back later to rescue him from the homicidal megalomaniac who had the plus side of being a witch.

_**I AM A HUGE BREAK**_

'What's wrong?!' Pauline cried for the twelfth time that night. In response the child just started crying louder.

'I can't do anything if I don't know what is wrong!'

Will's daughter cried even louder.

Just as the noise rose to an unbearable level a knock was only just heard. Pauline used a phrase that she had learnt from Halt to open the door. It swung open to reveal Alyss.

'Apparently…' Alyss paused thinking. 'Apparently you are my old mentor.'

'I am,' Pauline smiled and welcomed them into her lounge room.

The little girl stopped crying and ran over to Alyss who jumped with shock.

'Mumma,' she sobbed. 'My teeth hurt!'

'What's going on?' Alyss asked Pauline.

'This is your daughter. Your son is in the other room,' she replied gently.

'Was I married?'

'Yes.'

'What happened? Where is he?'

Here Pauline paused for the tiniest amount. 'He is insane. He was tested soon after you were injured.'

'Where is he?' Alyss repeated her earlier question in shock.

'Castle Araluen.'

'He was one of those dark magic, evil rangers anyway,' Alyss doctor who had come with her muttered.

Pauline opened her mouth to reply but Alyss beat her to it.

'One, they do not use dark magic – there is no such thing.' (Pauline winced) 'Two, Will was not evil; he was a true hero and a person more pure of heart you will never meet.'

The three ladies froze.

'Will. His name was Will?' Alyss asked Pauline.

'Yes,' Pauline stated simply and smiled.

'What was he like? When he wasn't insane, I mean.' She continued.

'I don't remember a time when the two of you weren't together. When he used to get bullied, you helped him. When he ended up a hero, you still stayed beside him. It did take ages but the two of you finally admitted your love and got married.' She gestured towards the children.

Alyss just stood there absorbing all of the information before she started talking again. 'Can I see him?'

'He is all the way in Castle. It is safer for you to stay here with us until we know that it will not hurt you to ride that distance.'

'Is it possible for him to come here?' Alyss asked. Pauling smiled, even when she couldn't remember her life, she still held the same natural diplomacy.

'We will see. I have to talk to people about it first,' Pauline said and caved in.

* * *

**I still need names and what not so...**

**Reviews would help my cause :) **

**I have a facebook account for my stories now... if you want updates and everything, the warnings are there (link to it is on my profile) **

**Live long and remain ugly!**

**Aly**


	11. Chapter 11

Will sighed and sat down on the only chair in the room, he had received no visitors and was bored.

It was one room in Araluen. Will knew that he had been lucky. With no family to look after him, and his status as a Ranger, previous Ranger, he had been granted a room in the castle.

Not that it had taken him anywhere. It was locked at all hours of the day from the outside apart from when food was being brought to him and even then they had a guard follow him. There wasn't though, any of the chatting or a constant sense of work that you would normally receive in a castle.

Will looked around his room again. Because of his supposed insanity, no one had thought of getting him any books to read or any parchment to write on.

I'm not insane, Will felt like screaming out. But then he thought about it, the odds were greater that yelling that would prove his insanity.

He froze as the door was unlocked and slowly pushed open. Suddenly he fell out of the chair.

Will swore and started laughing only to find the other person in the room laughing with him.

'Gil!' he greeted with a huge smile on his face.

'Will!' greeted Gil back. 'How have you been?'

Will pretended to think about it for a second. 'Bored to Hell.'

'Anyone would if they were locked in this room like you have,' said Gilan. 'Is there anything to do here?'

'No. And you're the first person to visit as well,' Will explained..

Gilan sighed. 'The other Rangers wanted to come but Crowley wont let them.'

'Why not?' Will asked curious.

'Because he doesn't want you to influence the other Rangers.'

Will grunted in response and then sat upside down on his chair.

'Marvin tested positive for insanity, even without mentioning the mission.'

'Great,' replied Will. 'My only proof of insanity was insane as well and they still keep me in here?'

'Seems so,' Gil replied. 'Halt's left.'

Will sat up and started to let loose his famous long list of questions. 'Where? And what if he is considered insane'

'Then the Rangers would start going down,' Gilan replied darkly.

'Promise me that when you get to be head you will let me be a ranger again,' Will basically pleaded.

'Whoever said that I was going to be commander?'Gil replied.

Will shrugged and absent-mindedly played with the gold oak leaf on a chain.

'Can I see?'Gil asked and Will gave it over to him. I know its stupid to ask, but has there been any news on Alyss?' Will asked, his eyes hopeful. Gilan sighed in the knowledge that he was going to be the bearer of bad news.

Just don't make him kill the messenger, Gil thought. 'Crowley doesn't want to have anyone out to look for her attacker.'

Will's eyes glistened slightly before he nodded. 'I'm surprised that Crowley let you come.'

Gil grinned secretively. 'It was actually quite easy. But anyway, the other guys gave this to me to give to you.'

'What is it?' WIll asked as he picked up the package.

'I asked them but they just said that it was something to let you know that they are behind you.'

Now curious, Will opened it and grinned upon seeing a Ranger cloak, both knives, a silver oak leaf along with the double scabbard.

'I wonder how they got it,' Gil said in amazement.

'It wasn't that hard to do,' a new voice came into their conversation.

'Hi, Bruce,' **(Because I was watching Monty Python, Bruce) **Will said enthusiastically.

'Hi Will, Hi Gil,' he greeted. 'I see that you are not as insane as you have been portrayed to be.'

'Sometimes I wish I was just so that I would have something to do,' Will replied.

'Look on the hilt,' Bruce said randomly and Will complied with a confused frown. The frown turned into a grin once he saw his own personal stamp on the bottom of both knives and oak leaf.

Bruce grinned and suddenly trod hard on a spot on the floor.

* * *

**I am offering my normal Christmas thing...**

**If you review one of my stories I will review one of yours sometime soon :)**

**Time starts from now until Christmas is over (Which includes the twelve days after) :)**

**-Alyss Mainwaring**


	12. Happy Australia Day

Almost at once the wall slid away to show a target. Gilan and Will stood there with their mouths open in shock.

'How on earth?' Will said astounded.

'It is a secret that we all share, well everyone apart from Crowley,' said Bruce.

'I didn't know about it,' Gil said with a straight face.

'Well not that many people know about it because we haven't needed to use it in such a long time. Not many rangers have gone insane lately,' Bruce said and threw his throwing knife over his shoulder and straight into the target centre.

Will watched it with his mouth open and Gil just grinned. 'My turn!' he said and attempted the same thing. Will laughed as it missed a lot.

'I'll leave you both here to throw things. But remember, Will, always wear the gold oakleaf on your collar and the silver one under your tunic at your heart.

'Wait, why don't you think that I am insane?' Will asked suddenly as Bruce reached the door.

'Because I was stuck in here five years ago for the same reason,' Bruce replied and left the room.

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**Sorry that it is such a short chapter but I soon have to go and watch fireworks because it is Australia day...**

**But on a high note I have finally seen Les Miserables! I adored it! Not as good as I found the book though. Tell me what you thought of it! :)**

**Alyss Mainwaring**


	13. Chapter 13

**I only noticed a little while ago that I spelt the name to this story wrong in the title. Everywhere else I had spelt it right except for here...**

**Epic fail.**

**This chapter is meant to be the next chapter but I lost the original to this one so I am rewriting it. It doesn't make a difference however if this one is first except in my mind and on my story plot.**

**SAD NEWS**

**This story only has 26 and an epilogue chapters left. (Not including this one...) So we aren't half way yet but I have mapped out the chapters and I try to write one per maths lesson so this story is going to end really soon :(**

**:)**

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Halt rode back to the nearest town swearing the whole way. He had come with muscle back up and now he had none. Darkness was coming and the day was getting progressively worse.

Will had been right all along. It was good news in the sense that he ex-apprentice wasn't insane, back because there was a witch floating around, possibly in the literal sense as well. _Why couldn't Will have been confused with what he saw?_ Halt asked himself. _Because then he would have stayed here longer to double check that everything was truly what he saw. _

_Desperate times call for desperate measures._

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The next time Abelard saw Halt he snorted with laughter. What on earth had Halt done and why? This was absolutely ridiculous!

"I know it looks like I have gone made, but there was nothing else I could think of," Halt explained. Tug snorted in laughter again.

_You look ridiculous._

"I know," Halt replied.

* * *

Halt was annoyed at the way his horse reacted to his normal civilian clothes. It wasn't as though he was in his Ranger uniform constantly. He did wear other things. And he did shave once in a while.

_When was the last time?_ Abelard asked him as though he could hear inside Halt's head. The man opened his mouth to reply but then thought the better of it. The horse was right.

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Halt walked back into the inn after properly getting Abelard ready for the night. He walked with his heavy gear up the two flights of steps to his already payed for room. It was smaller than usual and would most likely have bed bug there ready to suck his blood but it didn't matter. He was now on a rescue mission that had doubled in size from one persons sanity to two.

That and he doubted the witch would feed Horace enough.

The room held a table just large enough to hold Halt's map. Upon reaching the room he grabbed everything off the table and dumped it on the floor. Dust floated downwards from where it had been thrown into the air after being disturbed. Halt would have sneezed but he didn't have time for it so he didn't.

Each section of the map was opened up and then promptly rejected. Each ranger in the areas closest to him were of no use, either newly graduated or constantly uncivil towards him.

He growled in frustration and tried to refold the map back up. In his anger though he got the creases wrong and two corners met on the word _Macindaw_.


End file.
